Crystal Aura Gaze

Hi, and welcome to my home! I would like to show you around my little apartment!

A few things you should know first: I moved into this place 99% all by myself (with the exception of my mattress delivery) and I set everything up 100% by myself. I was going to have my dad and possibly some friends help, but this was right at the strike of quarantine, so no one was able to help anyway. But it doesn’t matter, because I kind of wanted to do it all alone anyway. Sure I struggled putting things together, sure I spent hours figuring out how to piece together my bed frame, or my cat tree, when it might’ve taken anyone else about 5-10 minutes. But I’m proud of myself. I worked my butt off moving everything in and setting everything up, ALL BY MYSELF! I suffered a very excruciating knee injury because of it about two-three weeks later, followed by the other knee, but it was totally worthwhile.

Another thing: I chose to go for the “minimalistic look” on purpose. Partially, because I like the feeling of having a lot of open space and not too much clutter. Also partially, because I have no idea what the future will bring. I don’t know if I’ll be forced one day to move out and have to do it all on my own again — if so then I’m trying to move as least furniture/stuff as possible because that is A LOT OF WORK!

And — I’ve settled in after several months, but I still have a lot more setup to do. I still plan on moving things around and adding more art decor. So it’s not perfect, but it works for now. You should also know that my cats messed a lot of things up. I had some cool tapestries hanging which looked really nice but they kept ripping them down. I had a lot more plants but my cats kept knocking them over, eating them, and messing with them. Darn cats. Still love them though.

Edit: forgot to add that I signed up for a one-bedroom but there was a last minute change and I got a second-bedroom for same price. So I don’t know what my rent situation will be when renewal comes up soon.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

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The front door

This is my front door. See cheesy grandma decor to the right and closet to the left (one of Venus’s favorite nap spots.) Hanging on my doorknob is a cat scratcher. Up against the door is a blanket so I can keep the air/heat in, keep the bugs out, etc… (probably not necessary but whatever.) And right next to the door is where I keep my backpack for school for work.

Living space

When you first walk in, you’ll see a table and a cat tree (stuffed with cat toys.) I also have yoga mats, but they tend to migrate all around the apartment.

My living space is pretty large. As you can see, I like to keep it open and spacious. Sometimes I’ll throw cat toys (like their tunnels you see) in the middle of the room so my cats can play around. RIP to my cool beanbag chair I had to chuck in the dumpster because Luna destroyed it while she was in heat and no amount of cleaning or laundry could save it. You see my record player on the floor which I have moved to my table in the previous pic.

Also take note of my hula hoops. Another great thing about having open space is that it’s perfect for hooping. I love using this area to practice my hula hooping — as well as yoga, pilates, dancing, and other exercise. This is basically my exercise room + plus playroom for the cats.

To the left is my guinea pig, Athena!

Here I have a chair where I’m hanging my coats until I get myself an actual coat hanger.

So I originally set up my couch & TV in this area, which is another reason it looks kind of bare. I think this would be a great spot to have a dining table and chairs. But as I said before I’m super nervous about having too much furniture because I don’t know where I’m going from here or if I’ll have any help with moving things so I’m keeping it minimum.

This was my old setup when I first moved in. It just feels cozier to have the TV in my bedroom.

Kitchen

To the right of that is my kitchen! I love my little kitchen! My cabinets are actually pretty empty because I’m too short to reach the higher shelves, so that’s why I have a lot of stuff in the corner of my counter space. The cats are NOT allowed on my counter spaces. I have a separate table specifically for my cats where I feed them. I do this to give them a bit more stimulus and exercise, as well as keeping nasty bugs away.

Hallway

Upon first walking in the front door, if you turn to your right, you see my hallway. More cheesy grandma decor! To the left is a closet which I use as a “bathroom” for my cats AKA where their litter box is (also have another smaller litter box in the main living space under the table) and other pet and cleaning supplies. On the right is my spare room, on the left is my bedroom, and straight back is the bathroom.

Probably keeping up these autumn/halloween decorations all year long…

Bathroom

Here’s the bathroom. Nothing special.

Bedroom

My queen bed and nightstand. I have pretty Christmas lights and a himalayan salt lamp on my windowsill which is hard to see. On my nightstand I keep candles, my glasses, a glass of water, pens, my journal and some other books, tissues, and an alarm lamp which I kind of struggle to use and mainly just have it for the light.

Next to my nightstand is my laundry basket. And then there’s two closets for my clothing. I don’t use a dresser. In front of the closets is a cat cage. I originally used this for when I first got Luna and she was a kitten but also comes in handy from time to time — like when Luna got spayed this week and was recovering, or if one of the cats is being bad and needs a timeout. Mainly I use it to hang clothes, stuff I’m re-wearing such as pajamas, sweatshirts, or pants that are still clean.

And here’s the new setup of my TV & floor couch. A bit disorganized — overflow of books, baskets of random stuff… You can see my new hello kitty humidifier which is wonderful for these dry winter months. It’s nice and cozy for now but still needs work.

Here’s a better look at my floor couch. (It’s the same couch but I added sheets.) Venus loves to stare out the window above. There’s also a better view of my Himalayan salt lamp but it’s still hard to really see — it has much more of an orangey tint in person. Some craft supplies, books, and more random stuff. A little space heater to the right. And as you can see, the couch is blocking the AC which is fine for now but I’ll have to move it before summer.

Here’s what this area looked like before I moved the couch & TV.

Spare room

And finally, the spare bedroom. This one needs the most work!

I love this floor table, which is what I usually use to do my blog-work. On the window are some statues — Isis statue, Bastet statue, Lord Ganesh statue, palmistry hand, and sand jars. Random baskets and other random things. Cat bed where Venus loves to sleep. Two small baskets full of a bunch of tarot and oracle decks. And so on. There’s also another large closet to the right where I keep another litter box.

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So, that’s basically everything! Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the tour! I will give updates about changes, hopefully I can make some improvement and get a little more organized! Peace out!